Doctors working in Britain who received their training in India are four times more likely to be struck off than those who trained locally, figures have revealed.

The General Medical Council (GMC) statistics show that between 2008 and 2013, 117 Indian and Pakistani doctors were stuck off the medical register.

During the same time period, 142 doctors who trained in Britain were struck off.

Figures released by the General Medical Council show that between 2008 and 2013, 117 Indian and Pakistani doctors were stuck off the medical register - proportionally four times higher than those trained in Britain

Proportionally, this means about one in 1,000 British-trained doctors were struck off, compared to one in 250 of those trained in India and one in 350 of those trained in Pakistan, The Daily Telegraph reports.

Currently, about a third of the doctors working in Britain received their training abroad, but 75 per cent of those who were struck off the medical register in 2013 were trained overseas.

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The largest proportion of these were trained in this country, followed by those trained in India, Pakistan, Egypt and Nigeria.

The figures have prompted concerns about the level of scrutiny overseas doctors are subjected to before being allowed to work in this country.

However, the British Association of Physicians of Indian Origin (BAPIO) says the figures do not reflect poorer medical training in India and Pakistan.

Currently, about a third of the doctors working in Britain received their training abroad

Instead, it says the statistics show that Indian doctors face discrimination when subjected to investigation by the GMC.

Dr Ramesh Mehta, president of BAPIO, told The Daily Telegraph: ‘Over the years we have repeatedly pointed out to the GMC that foreign doctors are treated harshly in disciplinary procedures.

‘It is ironic that on the one hand Indian doctors are being criticised and on the other hand they are being courted.’

Niall Dickson, Chief Executive of the General Medical Council, added: ‘We are here to protect the public and make sure that doctors who treat patients are safe to do so, regardless of where they have received their training.

‘These figures demonstrate that we will take action where doctors fall short of the standards we expect.

‘International medical graduates make a huge contribution to healthcare in the UK and the vast majority of them provide excellent care for their patients.

‘However, we know that doctors coming here from overseas can find it difficult to adapt to different cultural norms and it is certainly true that in the past not enough was done to support them when they first came to practise in this country.

‘More is now being done – we ourselves run a “welcome to UK practice” programme and all doctors coming here are now part of national system of regular checks.

‘We have also commissioned a major review of how we assess their knowledge and skills when they apply to join the UK register – the review will report later this year.’

Currently in the UK there are 150,000 doctors who have been trained in Britain.

There are also about 30,000 licensed doctors who trained in India and Pakistan.